All This Time
by RaeEcho
Summary: All this time someone had been betraying us? I didn't want to believe it. We were like family. They had all saved my life at one time or another. How could they throw that trust away?  Robin's pov, flashback fic, centered around his memories with the team


A/N- I am so bored. This second hiatus is killing me. So... to curve my bordem I've started making one-shots. I'm working my mind into oblivion on Gotham Nights, and I need something else to do while in between ideas.

This one is about that breif second in 'Secrets' where Robin looks all sad and depressed. Plus, I'm trying first person for this one. I don't want it to be associated with my other YJ fics, so I'm switching it up. First person isn't my strongest skill, so be gentle. At least I'm trying!

Also, this is what I call a 'flashback fic.' That means that the majority of it is in flashback form. (Duh.) The flashbacks alternate as well. Action/Mushy/Action/Mushy/Action. Got it?

P.S. I see Robin whump in the near future, brace for impact.

As always... I don't have a beta... So, any spelling/grammar errors will have to be tolerated by you. There's quite of bit of story and I would be miracle worker if I could spot them all when I look.

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><p>I had known for a long time that some one was betraying us. As much as I didn't want it to be true, it was, and once again I found myself without all the answers. It always sucked not having answers, and I can count on one hand the amount of times its happened. My parents death, where my crime fighting would take me, and other stuff along those lines. This, however, was entirely different.<p>

How could someone on the team be betraying us? It just didn't make sense. We were like a family, and as close as teenage superheroes could be. I had no idea how close was average in this circumstance, but my point was that we're really close. Despite the team not knowing my name, with the exception of Wally, I knew that they would always be there for me. It wouldn't matter if the team disbanded, there would always still be a connection.

I just wasn't sure if the connection would be good or bad, and that wasn't even the thing that was traveling me the most. The thing that practically had my skin crawling was that I suspected everyone for one reason or another. Was I a horrible person for not trusting my friends? If I was, I didn't mean to. I had been burned enough in the past to be cautious, but these were my team members. I was supposed to be able to trust them.

That still didn't stop me from stacking evidence against them. At first, I suspected Aqualad. He was like the older brother of our team. It was just that, the only evidence I had against him was that he held back important information about the mole, and could have been protecting himself. It was a weak argument, but it was all I had. After all, how was I supposed to accuse someone who saved my life on multiple occasions?

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_"Go!" Aqualad yelled, and somehow I heard his voice over the chaos. Go where? We were surrounded._

_The mission had started off simple enough. Batman had given us an assignment in the South American Rain Forest. We needed to gather information on a village in the region that was suspected of smuggling the main ingredients for cobra venom into the United States. We didn't have a very good track record for 'just observing', but this time we were dettermined to things right._

_After a couple of hours in the bioship we had arrived and landed in a small clearing near our predeterrmined coordinates. Not a problem in my book, but when my internal radar started going off, I knew that this was probably going to end up being one of those times that keeping a low profile would be impossible._

_My reason? A clearing in the middle of the one the densest jungles in the world? Not likely. The clearing itself was strange too. It was too large for a jet or plane, but was the perfect size for a helicoptor or in this instance, a bioship. It could happen, but what were the odds?_

_Aqualad must have sensed it too, because we hadn't even been off the ship for a minute before he ordered us back on. He looked slightly fearful. I must have missed something in my preliminary observations that Kaldur had seen. But what?_

_I never got to figure out what I missed, because we were ambushed about three seconds after Aqualad gave his signal for retreat._

_Men started pouring out of the jungle and they were wielding guns. Big guns. Guns you would find on a miltary base, and they weren't afriad to use them. I became painfully aware of that when they started firing. It was obvious that they were the worst shots I had ever seen, but spray and pray seemed to work in their favor._

_I hadn't had time to react. The natives started shooting and I saw my team fighting for their lives. KF and Artemis were fighting side by side, hoping to keep the locals away from M'gann who was trying to get the bioship online. Connor was on a rampage, smashing everyone of them he could get his hands on. I had no idea were Kaldur was, but I didn't have time to worry about it. I had to move._

_I quickly shook myself out of my stupor and rushed head first into the locals. They instantly started firing at me, but I rolled out of their line of fire. I had never been more thankful for my acrobatics, because I came out of my roll with ease and jumped onto one of the men._

_I overshot my jump just a little. Somehow, I landed on his shoulders, but I still took advantage of the situation. I did a front flip off of his shoulders, making sure to deliver a sharp kick to his head, and landed on the guy next to him. I felt a brief feeling satisfaction when the man collapsed underneath my weight, but it was short lived when I felt a stinging sensation across my arm and lower torso. The other guy hadn't been as dealt with as I had thought._

_The stinging grew worse. It was probably a few deep grazes, but I had had worse. Ignoring the wound in my arm and stomach, I cartwheeled out of the way as more locals opened fire at me. There were so many of them, and there was no way we were going to win this. Not because we weren't capable, but because I had a feeling that these goons were only the tip of the ice berg, and for once I wished I wasn't always right._

_The next thing I knew was that the gun fire had stopped. I mean completely stopped. There wasn't a shooter in sight. That was the first thing that set my 'this is going to end bad' meter off._

_The next thing, however, was a bit more obvious. It was a tremor. It wasn't one of those tremors that one would feel when standing next to Superboy after he jumped off a skyscraper, but a different kind. The kind that let you know that something big was about to come at you with all that it had. I knew that tremor very feel having dealt with it before. Gotham was full of things that caused those kinds of tremors._

_Acting on instinct, I took a fighting stance. It was doubtful that I could handle whatever was coming out of those trees, but I had to try._

_I concentrated on my surroundings and I felt another tremor beneath my feet. It was slightly bigger than the first one. I knew that in any second it would be in the clearing with us, but I still had no idea what it was. That fact troubled me more than I cared to think about. I was praying that something would intervene, because at that point, I wasn't sure if I wanted to know._

_Another tremor. It was so close, no more than 45 seconds, and I finally got lucky. Miss M had the Bioship online and ready to go. I heard the tiny space ship power up, and I smiled. I couldn't even find the ability to be annoyed in how long it took, because I was ready to leave. I was shot, tired, and craving Alfred's homemade cookies._

_"Robin, let's move!" Aqualad yelled, and my smile widened. Losing track of someone in the middle of a fight always troubled me, so having my 'older brother' or sorts yell at me to move was perfectly fine by me. I didn't even think about giving a sarcastic remark either. It was an accomplishment to say the least, but it was also short lived._

_At the same time I was running to the bioship, that was almost taking off, I found out what made the tremor._

_A monster._

_Not a monster you look for under your bed, but a giant humanoid rock shaped beast. It was about four times larger than Bane, and twice as nasty. Rock mixed with stretched out skin wasn't even the worst part. Muscle was clearly seen, and their was so much of it. Frankenstein looked like a little kid's action figure compared to that thing. Not making the ground shake when it walked must have been impossible. With all that rock and muscle mass, that thing must have weighed a ton. More like two or three tons, but the point was that if it stepped on you, you were an instant pancake. It had to had been injected with enough experimental evolution juice to supply a research lab for years. Whoever, used to be under all that mass was long gone, and turned into a weapon._

_I grit my teeth at the thought. Superboy could have turned out like that. With a new burst of adrenaline, I threw the most powerful explosives in my arsenal at the thing, and ran to the bioship._

_I was instantly glad that Lucius knew his explosives, because the beast screeched behind me in pain. It's distraction was my benefit. I gave another burst of speed, and made it to the ramp of the bioship just as it rose off the ground. I smiled up at Aqualad who was ushering me inside. We were going home. I my ears pop with the massive change in altitude, when my luck finally ran out._

_A jolt ran through the bioship and I lost my balance. It's kind of hard to believe that a kid who was raised walking across tight ropes could loose his balance so quickly, but I could._

_My arms flailed wildly and I felt my myself falling out of the slightly open hatch. I couldn't even grab onto to anything. Firstly, because I went out head first, and secondly, because I panicked. My life didn't flash before my eyes, just one memory. The memory of the event that led to me becoming the one and only boy wonder. It was morbidly ironic that the thing that started my new life would end it. Falling._

_Air rushed by me in a familiar whooshing sound, and I felt my eyes close, waiting for the impact. When, I stopped. I didn't gracefully stop, but I was jerked to it by my leg, and TV shows lie about how it feels. It hurts. It felt like my leg was almost pulled off. I knew it was an exaggeration, but still..._

_I was briefly stunned by the pain in my leg, but as soon as I recovered I looked at my surroundings._

_I was floating. Not floating like flying, but still gliding through the air like I had always wanted to. The only difference was the Atlantian who was there with me, holding tight onto my leg with one hand, and to a rope that dangled from the bioship in the other._

_"Thanks!" I yelled as loud as I could. I hoped he had heard me over the wind._

_"It's my job!" He shouted back, and I could hear the double meaning in his words. You don't spend hours training with Batman for nothing._

_It was his job to save me, but not only as team leader, but also as my friend._

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>I shook my head. How could I even think of accusing Aqualad? He saved my life, and I repaid him by thinking of him as a traitor, but if not Aqualad then who?<p>

"Robin." Batman snapped, and I practically jumped out of my skin. I didn't show it on the outside, but my heart was beating at an erratic pace.

"Yeah?" I asked, and I slowly stood from the gray chair I had been sitting in. I had zoned out through practically the entire meeting, concerning the mole, but I had set up my wrist computer to record it. If Batman found out, he would kill me, but I needed time to think, and at the moment it seemed like a good plan. Plus, I was pretty sure that I wasn't really going to like what they had to say.

"We're heading back." Batman said in just a little softer voice, and I nodded and I followed him as he made his way back to the batmobile. Roy, Aqualad, and the others seemed to have already left, and I realized that I must have more out of it than I thought.

More proof was added to that conclusion by my almost running strait into the door frame on my way out. I tried to focus on what I was doing, but my mind wouldn't leave me alone. I found myself being slowly pulled back into the same topic I had been stuck on for the last week. The traitor.

It couldn't be Wally, could it? When I had made my original lists of suspects, I always put him at the bottom. He was my closest friend. My only friend for a while, but I couldn't deny that he had secrets. He maybe had more secrets than anyone else I knew.

He had scars on his back from before he was Kid Flash, and he always seemed to be going somewhere. Not that it was uncommon for a speedster to run off all the sudden, their brains were just as fast as their feet, but in an investigation you couldn't show favoritism. No matter how much that person meant to you, or helped you. I knew that, but I also knew that Wally had helped me. He had helped me with the one thing that I actually knew I needed help with. Nightmares.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_The couch was not my friend. It was lumpy, hard, and uncomfortable. I couldn't see how Connor could sit on it for an extensive amount of time watching nothing but static. Maybe being the boy of steel meant he was immune to the cushions or something?_

_Despite it's uncomfortable nature, I refused to move. Being stubborn was always one of my strong suits and I refused to be defeated by a couch. It was a stupid reason for staying on the thing, but I clung to it. I was going to take a nap if it killed me._

_I hadn't had a good night's sleep in what seemed like forever. In actuality, it was probably about three days, which is still impressive stamina for what its worth._

_Between the Joker's latest crime spree, school, the team, and only god knows what else, I was tired. I was the kind of tired one would spend days in bed for. I gave bone dead tired a new meaning. I was so tired I kept describing how tired I was to myself because it amused me. If I hadn't been trained to keep myself under control, there would have been a good chance that I would have been rolling around on the floor laughing like I had been dosed by the Joker's laughing gas. Not because anything was funny, but because I found everything funny._

_Strange things happen when you're sleep deprived. I just hoped that whatever I did wouldn't be seen and that I wouldn't remember it._

_I groaned and readjusted my position on the couch. I wanted to punch my pillow too, but I couldn't. Turning over to my side must have done the trick, or I was finally too tired to care. It didn't matter either way, because I found my eyes closing rapidly. I had a bad feeling right before I nodded off, but I pushed it away. I wanted to sleep, and that was that. I doubted that I would care if the mountain suddenly burst into flames, like I said, I would get some sleep whether it killed me or not. I just wished that I had known that I should have listened to that bad feeling. It would have saved me a lot of trouble._

_The trouble was a nightmare. Not a nightmare, the nightmare. The one that followed me like some kind of stalker. The only difference was that you could get away from a stalker. My personal nightmare would keep following me and I couldn't stop it. It would follow me to the end of time. That one memory that I tried to run from, but never could._

_As I knew it would, it started the same way it did every time._

_It was evening at Haley's circus and everyone was moving at a super fast pace. Which was normal minutes before a performance._

_Jugglers ran throughout the crowd, juggling whatever they got their hands on. Sometimes knives, and sometimes wallets. I knew that they would sometimes slip a few dollars out, but I didn't care. They paid me in ice cream for my silence. __Clowns played well rehearsed practical jokes on one another for the enjoyment of the people, and booths were set up everywhere. The sounds of bell, whistles, and laughter almost drowned out the Gotham police sirens in the background._

_I could see workers off in the distance making sure that everything was prepared for the show. Their tasks ranging from tightening down the tent's stakes to keeping the animals calm. I didn't envy them. Pop Haley got a new elephant a few months ago and Sid did not like massive crowds, which was kind of bad considering their location in one of the most heavily populated cities in the United States._

_As was expected, I drifted through the crowd for a bit, like I always did. Doing random flips and sometimes using my circus family's shoulders as spring boards. They never seemed to mind. I was born into that circus and I was just as much as my parents' kid as I was theirs'. My mom called it being spoiled rotten, but my dad said that I knew how to play the field. I wasn't sure what either of them were talking about, so I ignored them._

_The sun was getting lower and lower on the horizon and I knew that it was time for the show. I so excited too. No matter how many times we preformed, I always had the same feeling before each show. I was never worried. Even though we had no net, I knew that we didn't need one. We were professionals. I wasn't worried at all, I was thrilled._

_Why wouldn't I be? I got to fly. My mom didn't call me her Robin for nothing._

_With one last glance at the crowd that was now disappearing into the tent's red and yellow depths, I took off running towards my family's trailer. I was almost half way there, when a man caught my eye. He was exiting through the back near the equipment, and he was dressed like one of the hands. It didn't make sense to me, because I knew all the workers at the circus at he wasn't one of them._

_He was tall and seemed to walk weird. I knew there wasn't anything wrong with him, but he walked how I would when I stole cookies from Misty the Mind Reader's booth. The man noticed me starring, and I met his gaze. I might have been eight, but I wasn't stupid. I knew he didn't belong there. He reminded me of the man I had seen arguing with Pop Haley early that day._

_"Dick! Where are you?" My dad yelled from the trailer and he snapped me out of my starring contest._

_"I'm coming!" I shouted back, and when I turned around to see where the man was I couldn't find him. I shook my head to clear my thoughts of the man, and I raced over to where my dad was waiting._

_"Come on, son. The show's about start and you're mother would skin us alive if we aren't there on time." Dad said, and he picked me up and sat me on his shoulders. I didn't mind the sudden lift I received, I knew that he wasn't lying about the being skinned alive part. So, I held on tight as my father start running to the back entrance of the tent. The one pacifically for the performers._

_I was slowly lifted from my dad's shoulders and set on the ground before we entered the tent._

_"If we sneak in, maybe she won't notice." My dad said with a wink, and I smiled at him. Sometimes I wondered who the kid was in the family._

_"Maybe I will." A voice said right behind us, and we both jumped in surprise._

_"Hi Mary." My father said sheepishly and he rubbed the back of his neck. She merely cocked an eyebrow and he instantly deflated. I decided to take pity on my dad._

_"Mamica!" I yelled and I threw myself around her middle._

_"Hello my little Robin." She replied and she ruffled my hair, all traces of previous anger forgotten. I released her from my death grip and she walked through the tent flap, waiting for us to follow._

_"I owe you one, Richard." My dad sighed and together we made are way into the tent. A nagging feeling began to form in the back of my mind. I should have told them about that stage hand, but I pushed it aside. It was time for the show._

_As always, my parents went up the latter first, because their performance together was before mine. I followed them about five minutes later, as they were flying through the air. The crowd's gasps and shrieks grew quieter the higher I went, and eventually they were quiet enough for me to tune them out. Acrobatics required concentration, there would be plenty of time for the spotlight afterwards._

_I finally reached the top of the platform, and I was vaguely aware of the announcer introducing me to the crowd. They were probably making a fuss over my age, like they normally did, I didn't care._

_The only thing I cared about was my mother's smiling face as she swung towards me, with dad holding her ankles. Her arms were opened wide, and when I jumped, I knew that she'd catch me. Her flowing red costume billowed around her, and I prepared myself for my jump._

_I was about to leap from the platform when a snap broke my concentration. At first, I was puzzled over what could have made the noise, and then it hit me. The wires._

_I dropped to my knees and met my mother's eyes. She was falling, her arms still reaching for me. She was terrified and sad, and I almost missed that she was mouthing one last message to me. 'I love you.'_

_Then, she was falling. She was getting farther and farther away, and I felt like I something was keeping me from looking away. The crowds gasps made way for their screams. I wanted to scream myself, but I was frozen with shock. I didn't need to see the rest to know what was about to happen._

_I knew that I would about to hear their bones snap and see blood leak out from their unmoving bodies. I knew that they were about to die, and I couldn't look away._

_Then it ended. I woke up, just before they died._

_I woke up to find myself in an entirely different position than when I fell asleep. I was on my side, curled into a ball. My civilian clothes were bunched around me and my sunglasses were cutting into my temple._

_Tears pooled in my eyes from behind my glasses, and I choked back a sob. I didn't understand why I kept having to relive it. To keep seeing my mamica's face as she plummeted to her death. To watch as my only family died, over and over again._

_I found myself sitting up and curling into an even tighter ball as her face flashed across my mind again. I wrapped my arms around my legs and hung my head. It took all that I had to focus on not crying. I was thirteen years old, I didn't cry over something that happened when I was eight. I was supposed to be over it by now. I was supposed to be stronger than that._

_"Hey, you're okay." A gentle voice said, and I finally became aware of the arms that had just secured themselves around me, "It's going to be okay Robin." Wally reassured and I didn't have the energy to pull away from his grip. Instead, I did something that I told myself I wouldn't do. I broke down._

_Sobs racked my frame and a uncurled from my ball and clung to my best friend's shirt. Resulting in the red head pulling me into a tighter embrace. He was muttering lame jokes in my ear, but I barely heard them. I was lost in my own pain._

_"Shhh. Robin." Wally soothed, when his jokes fell short, but that didn't detour him for long, because he was back with more. They were just as lame as the previous one's, but I found myself listening to them. Every now and then, I would give a quiet snort of laughter, but for the most part I stayed quiet, doing my best to silence my tears._

_"You okay now, Rob?" KF asked as he pulled away from me and put his hands on my shoulders. I nodded mutely, and lifted my head to look at him._

_"What was that about?" He asked. I knew he wanted answers, but I wasn't ready to give them. I didn't want to revisit those memories anytime soon. They had just broken free from my subconsious and I wanted more than anything to shove them back there._

_As if he was reading my thoughts, he said, "You don't have to tell me now, Rob." I smiled inwardly at his declaration. He respected me enough to let me tell him when I was ready. He didn't care about the nightmare. He just wanted to know if I was okay._

_"My name's Dick." I said suddenly, and I yanked my glasses off my face. I surprised myself with my outburst. I hadn't meant to tell him my name or show him my eyes, but something inside me told me that I should. It was time. If I couldn't trust Wally after years of being friends, there was no hope for me._

_"Well, it's nice to meet you Dick. My name's Wally." He said and he held his hand out for me to shake. I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but couldn't. That simple gesture meant something to me, even if it was portrayed as a joke._

_I grasped his hand and shook it. He was my friend before, but now it was official. I finally trusted him._

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>Wally was my friend. End of discussion. The energetic red head had stuck by me when few others would or could. There was no way that Wally would betray the team. Any secrets he might keep, were his business. He respected my privacy, the least I could do was return the favor.<p>

I sighed, and action that wasn't missed by my mentor, but he didn't say anything. He knew something was up with me, but he knew that needed to work through it.

I leaned my head against the glass of the passenger side window of the batmobile and watched the landscape fly by. I was suddenly thankful that we had driven to the meeting instead of using the zeta tube. Nothing clears your mind faster than a pleasant car ride. By pleasant car ride, I meant going 90 mph back to Gotham, but it was the same thing in my opinion.

I didn't want to think anymore. I just wanted to relax and forget that the mole ever existed, but I couldn't. Having marked Aqualad and Kid Flash off my suspect list, next was Connor. The clone of Superman. The living weapon, created by the same people who the supposed mole was working for. Out of everyone, he seemed like the most believable choice. Superman certainly thought so, but he didn't know Conner. Then again, how well did I know him?

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_I didn't like the mission the second we got it. It wasn't planned, and it wasn't assigned by Batman. On a normal day, this would make me anxious, but I thought it was a simple bank robbery like the others. Red Tornado had even been fooled. I was pretty sure that if our robotic babysitter had known he had just sent us up against one of Gotham's clinically insane, things would have gone different._

_I didn't blame Red for not knowing. Who in their right mind would guess that the Mad Hatter was robbing a bank in downtown Happy Harbor? I know I wouldn't, but that still didn't change my predicament one bit._

_I was kneeling on the floor of the Sunnyside Bank's lobby, with glass shards scattered around me, some of them cutting into my knees. Blood was running down the left side of my face from where I got acquainted with the edge of the counter, and my shirt was ripped in a few places. Then there were the internal injuries, such as my bruised ribs, but that wasn't my biggest concern._

_The Mad Hatter himself, stood behind me, with a blade pressed firmly against my throat and one of his hands securely gripped in my hair. He wouldn't hesitate to slit my throat and watch my blood pour out, but there were five reasons that he hadn't yet._

_My team stood before him, each with varying levels of anger written across their faces. It was strange to see them like that, each of them showing their fury in their own way. Out of all of them, Superboy looked the worst. I knew that there was no way that he would have let me be the distraction if he had known who was behind the robbery. While he got the hostages out, I got to fall down the rabbit hole, and I could tell that he was feeling extremely guiltly for that._

_He shouldn't have been feeling guilty. I knew that the hostages came first, and I knew that if it were the other way around, I would've done the same thing. It wasn't his fault that I thought I could handle a petty bank robber. Well, it was confirmed that the robber was far from petty, but the fact that I should have been paying better attention remained._

_I tried my best to keep a calm look on my face, because I didn't want them to do anything drastic. Artemis looked ready to pounce on the Mad Hatter and beat him with her bow. Not because it would be easier, but because she wanted to, and she wasn't much better than the rest of them._

_M'gann's eyes were glowing white and a few chairs were starting to levitate around the room._

_Wally was twitching a little, and I knew it was serious if he had to put that much effort into being still._

_Aqualad was being rational as well as angry, so his calm appearance stayed in tact rather well._

_Superboy, on the other hand, was terrifying. He was a perfect clone of the man of steal and apparently he had picked up the intimidation gene from his father. I was positive that if he had heat vision, the Mad Hatter would have been reduced to a melted puddle of crazy._

_"Oh, I had no idea you were this important, Robin." The Mad Hatter taunted and his blade pressed harder against my throat. I felt it slice my skin a little, and a small stream of blood come with it._

_"Get. Your. Hands. Off. Him." Connor demanded, and he took a step forward._

_"Or what?" Was his instant reply, and he gave my hair a sharp tug. I winced and gave out a small hiss, but that was it, there was no way I would give him anymore satisfaction from my pain. But it wasn't exactly easy to keep up the fascade. When he pulled my hair, the sudden movement backwards jarred my ribs._

_I wasn't feeling the aster one bit. I hated being unable to help or move. I had never been good at keeping still, but this was different. I was vurnerable, and it didn't help that I could practically see the Mad Hatter's crooked, tea stained smile, vividly in my mind. I had fought him enough times along side Batman to memorize his face. He might have not have been as big time as the Joker, but he was definitely just as crazy._

_That downside also came with a pleasant advantage as well. I knew his tricks. Eventually he would raise his eyebrow in a form of mocking the team. To where he would seem to be asking them to 'bring it on,' and I knew they would. Trap or no trap._

_Many a person fell for his tactic. They wouldn't be expecting him to overtake them as quickly as he normally did. After all, the Mad Hatter wasn't all that intimidating. He was short and slightly pudgy man, wearing a ridiculous polka dot bow tie. Plus, the hat. I didn't even want to get started on that hat. He didn't scream scary, he just looked like he had forgotten that Halloween was in October._

_"You wouldn't kill me, boy. You're a hero, and you have rules to follow." The Mad Hatter said with a laugh, "Besides, you want your friend to stay alive, don't you?"_

_"How do you know I won't kill you?" Superboy asked. He clearly meant business, but I wasn't sure I had heard him correctly._

_"From that S-shield on your shirt." The criminal explained lazily and I saw something snap behind Connor's light blue eyes._

_"Why's that? It's only a shirt." Superboy explained, and he ripped the S-shield right off his black T-shirt. I started to wonder if Supey had actually snapped, when I saw what he was doing. He was planning a diversion._

_It happened sooner than I thought it would, but I was still prepared. The seconds ticked by slowly in my mind and everything seemed to happen in slow motion._

_Connor threw the torn section of his shirt at the Mad Hatter, and he jumped back a little in surprise, taking his knife withe him. As soon as his blade was no longer at my throat, I rolled away. It hurt like crazy, because of the damage to my torso, but it had to be done. At least when I came out of my roll, Artemis and KF were at my side in an instant, pulling me away from the ongoing fight. It was a good thing they were there too, because there was no way that I would have been able to get away in time for Superboy's attack on my own. Using a shirt as a distraction worked, but it wasn't a permanent solution, and Connor knew that._

_He had prepared for it, and as soon as I was out of the way, he charged at the lunatic. As predicted, Superboy fell for the Mad Hatter's taunts, but it looked like he had bit off a little more than he could chew with the kryptonian clone._

_Connor rushed at him and pummeled him to the ground. His fist were flying every which way and could hardly keep track of them at the speed he was going. Grunts of effort came out of his mouth as he assaulted the man on the floor, and from what I could tell he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. And the others looked like they would be making no move to stop it._

_I wouldn't have been worried about that if it wasn't for the blood that had started appearing on his knuckles every time he pulled his fist back. I knew Connor didn't bleed that easily so there was only one place all that blood could have come from._

_"Superboy! Stop!" I yelled from my position on the floor, and as if I had hit the pause button on a remote, he did. His fist stopped in mid punch, and he slowly got up._

_Once he had moved I could see what remained of the Mad Hatter. He was still alive, no doubt, that was evident from the rise and fall of his chest, but he was broken. Bruises already started to form on what skin I could see, and his giant nose looked broke in several places. Superboy must have held back his strength as much as he could._

_"Are you okay?" He asked gruffly. His head was hung and he looked mad, and I couldn't tell if it was from losing his temper or not finishing the Mad Hatter off._

_"Yeah, thanks." I said gently, and Superboy glanced at me quickly before hurrying out the door, closely followed by M'gann. With that one look I could tell that Superboy would always look out for me. Whether I wanted him to or not._

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>He might be able to hurt a fly, but it was obvious that he didn't want to. The only time I had ever seen him loose his cool was when one of the team was hurt. He was a protector.<p>

"Robin, we're home." Batman said gently, pulling out of my thoughts again.

I nodded tiredly and opened the car door without even bothering to look at my surroundings or to glance back at my mentor. I could feel his worried glare on my back as I walked. I was sure that if I looked back I would tell him everything, and I wasn't exactly ready to share my discoveries with the rest of the class just yet.

My footsteps echoed around the cave as I walked, and I almost thought about just crashing on the medical table. Alfred wouldn't allow uniforms upstairs, and I wanted to sleep as quickly as humanly possible. I knew deep down that it wouldn't happen as long as my brain was still working away on my list of suspects, but I could still dream. The only thing that reassured me about my problem was that I was over half way down.

I had already marked a whopping three people off my list. Kaldur for being my surrogate older brother, Wally for being my best friend, and Connor for being my protector. It was unfair to the girls of the team to ignore them in my mental investigation, but I wasn't sure that if I really wanted to even think about either of them being guilty.

M'gann was far to innocent in my opinion to even be considered, but she was hiding something, that I was sure of.

Every time her race was brought up she got all defensive. I didn't know if she hiding something related to her home planet or if it was something else, but it was still a secret. I knew it was large, and I hoped that it had nothing to do with the team. I didn't think I could handle sweet, innocent Megan being a traitor. She was always so nice to me, but was all of her charm just a ploy?

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_Being sick was never a good experience. Especially when you get sick right before a mission assignment, but t__hat didn't stop it from happening._

_At first, I thought I was just being paranoid. I never really got sick, and even when I did, it was something minor. It would always be small enough for me to be able to fake feeling well. I knew I wasn't supposed to, but I couldn't take a day off from being Robin, because I had a cold. Batman never did, so why should I?_

_Looking back at the years I had known Bruce, I had never seen him get sick. Mortally wounded in a hospital bed was an entirely different story, but that was a rare occurrence. The overall fact of the matter was that the Bat Family did not get sick._

_Actually, I could count with two fingers the number of times I had actually been bedridden for an illness, once in the circus, and once living with Bruce. I was the Boy Wonder, and that meant no sick days._

_So, when I woke up feeling slightly nauseous, I pushed it out of my mind. It wouldn't stop me from going about my day as planned. The only exception I would have to make would be to not slide down the banisters when I went downstairs. It would be hard to do, but Alfred would be overjoyed. Bruce would be suspicious, but I would have to live with that. He was always suspicious._

_I quickly got dressed, ignoring the dizzy feeling that bounced around my skull, and went on my way to breakfast. It was a Saturday, but sleeping in didn't happen at Wayne Manor. You had to be up and presentable by breakfast or you wouldn't be fed. It was the way of the world. Plus, I didn't feel like fighting off a cold, and Alfred. I would lose._

_I made way to the dining room slower than usual. It felt like my body was trying force me to rest by slowing me down. Normally I would run down the halls and slide down to the ground floor on the antique banister. Then, glide across the tile floor in my worn out converses, and land semi-gracefully in my chair at the table._

_As much as I wanted to stick with my old routine, I couldn't. The dizziness I felt had turned into pain, and a full blown headache pounded behind my temples. I was doing well just make it down the stairs. The usual descend downstairs felt like I massive change in altitude that I couldn't cope with._

_I knew it was only going to get worse, but my ego got the better of me. I wanted to go about my day as I planned. Eat breakfast, train in the gym, and go on the mission to Venezuela that Batman was assigning the team the evening. Being shut in the manor for one to five days, depending on how ill I was, did not bode well with me._

_"Master Richard, are you feeling well?" Alfred asked as I walked into the dining room. He knew something was up as soon as I didn't make my usual grand entrance._

_"Yeah everything's great!" I said with false cheerfulness. I knew he didn't believe me, but he didn't want to push me._

_"Very well then." He said. His voice was coated with suspicion, but he walked away, leaving me alone with my breakfast. I had lucked out with Bruce having a business meeting that morning. There was no way I could fool them both._

_Hours passed and with each second, I felt worse. My headache had not only refused to dull down, but had intensified. My original nauseous feeling became so bad that standing up was like riding a roller coaster. My stomach hurt, and if it weren't for my determination to go on the mission, I would have been out cold._

_I still don't know how I managed to drag myself to the Batcave to suit up, but I did it. The task that should have taken me three minutes took me thirty. I knew that the zeta tube wouldn't help anything, but I was being to stubborn for my own good. There wasn't anyone to call me out on it, either. Batman would meet me at Mount Justice after coming off from a League mission, and if I could make it ten more minutes, I would be in the clear._

_I walked slowly over to the zeta tube, steeling my nerves with each step. My back straitened out of my hunched over state, and I put a smirk on my face. I slammed my palm down on the tube's control panel and a familiar tingling sensation flooded my body._

_Within seconds I was at the mountain, and if I hadn't prepared for the journey, I would have thrown up._

_"Hey Rob!" Kid Flash greeted me cheerfully as I stepped out of the tube. I wanted to answer him, but opening my mouth would have ended in disaster._

_"You okay, Rob?" He asked. His voice a little louder as he yelled from across the mountain. I nodded and focused on making it the training room for the mission information._

_By some miracle, I made it. Batman was waiting patiently, the computer already booting up behind him. The team was there also, dressed for combat. Instead of the normal yellows, greens, and reds, they wore black. It looked like we were going covert, and I smiled weakly at the prospect of having a mission in my skill set._

_"Now that you're all here." Batman said. He was obviously irritated, but I didn't focus on it. I hated every second of it, but I zoned out. Until I heard Batman say it. The thing that I had been trying avoid since I woke up that morning._

_"The five of you should leave in ten minutes."_

_"Wait. the five of us?" KF asked._

_"Robin will be staying behind." Batman said calmly. His tone said that they were dismissed. I knew I had lost the battle, but the rest of team didn't know Batman as well as I did. They didn't hear what he meant in what he said. If that made any sense at all._

_"Why?" Connor asked, speaking for the first time._

_"He's sick." Batman responded, "and he's staying here." Bruce ordered. He knew that if I returned to Gotham in my state Alfred would end me. He was actually showing me a mercy._

_"What gave me away?" I asked as my stomach gave a painful throb, almost making me double over._

_Batman didn't answer my question, but his look clearly meant that it was obvious._

_"Med bay. Go." He ordered and I sighed. I couldn't believe that I actually thought I would get away with everything. I sighed and did as I was told. My stubborn streak had run dry, leaving a tired, sick boy wonder in it's place._

_I almost groaned in relief as the med bay came into view. However, I couldn't make it. I almost collapsed when another prong of nausea ran it's course, but gentle arms held me up._

_"You okay, Robin?" Megan asked as she hauled me to my feet._

_"What are you doing? Aren't you supposed to be on a mission?" I asked. She temporarily ignored my question and helped me onto the closest bed. I was thankful she didn't try to levitate me. I would have definitively thrown up._

_"They can handle it without me." She assured and I felt her put her hand on my sweaty forehead._

_"Then why are you here?"_

_"Because you're sick silly!" She said as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe, and she started busying herself around the med bay. I felt one or two spare blankets being draped over me, but I couldn't tell what else she was doing. My body was shutting down, and I finally let it. Sleep came within seconds, and I was out like a light._

_When I finally woke up, I only felt a little better, but that wasn't because I was getting better, but because of the object I found sitting on the bed side table._

_It was a bowl. It was an ugly orange color and a spoon sat directly beside it. I could still see steam come from the top of it, and I knew it hadn't been there long. I carefully withdrew my arm from the cocoon of blankets I was in and picked up the spoon. I lifted the spoon and pushed it cautiously into the bowl, and what I found surprised me._

_Soup. M'gann made me soup. I found myself smiling at the ridiculousness of it all._

_A martian had just made me soup._

_Chuckles spilled from my mouth and they quickly turned into deep laughter. I didn't know when it had happened, but I gained an alien for an older sister._

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>I sighed at the memory of M'gann's soup. It tasted worse than anything that I had ever had, but I still ate it. Why? Because she made it for me, and I couldn't deny that even though it tasted horrible, Miss M knew her remedies.<p>

I was sick and she took care of me instead of helping the others. It was special and nice and there wasn't a doubt in my mind that she was not the leak. Besides, I encouraged her to set up a telepathic link with the team on our very first mission. She had been in my head, and she had probably seen some messed up stuff in there. Then, she didn't tell anyone and if that was superior secret keeping skills, I didn't know what was.

"Richard, are you okay?" Batman asked, and I finally noticed that I had been standing in the same spot rather than continue my journey to the cave's locker rooms.

"Yeah."

"Really?" Bruce asked sarcastically and I didn't need to look at him to know that he was wearing his, 'I don't believe you' expression.

"I've just got a lot on my mind." I admitted and I had hoped that it would have been enough to satisfy his curiosity. I was kidding myself. He was the Batman, but my recent space outs must have made me forgot this.

"Meet me in the kitchen in thirty minutes." He ordered and I listened to his footsteps retreat into the depths of the cave. I wanted to start cursing. He was about to grill me about what I had me so out of it. Actually, that was a really good question. I didn't know what had me so spacey. It wasn't like I hadn't been betrayed before. Maybe because I trusted my team with my life?

"Then why don't you tust them with your name?" I asked myself aloud.

"Shut up." I yelled. The bats chirping in annoyance was the only thing that pulled me back to Earth. I had just started talking to myself. That was a new low. Being crazy would work against my plans for later in life.

"Talk to yourself, Dick. That'll help everything." I sighed. My body put itself on autopilot and I tried my best to clear my mind. I failed miserablly, but it was worth a shot.

I was being pulled in again, and I wanted to scream. There was only one person left to cover. That had to mean something, didn't it?

It was just my luck too, that the one person I had yet to clear was who I originally thought the mole was.

For starters, Green Arrow didn't have a niece. How could he? He had no brothers, sisters, or adopted siblings. Artemis was already lying to us about her family. Not just Green Arrow, but her sister as well.

It wasn't hard for me to put the pieces together about her and Chesire. From what I gathered from Roy, they acted similar. He said it out of spite, but he had a point. From their speach patterns and behavior traits, I knew that they had grown up in the same area, pobably Gotham, or somewhere similar.

I didn't know their exact relationship until a movie night at the mountain a few weeks ago. When M'gann had suggested Alice in Wonderland, Artemis overreacted. Her excuse was that the Chesire Cat freaked her out. The others didn't notice it, but that sentence had a double meaning. After that, I just followed and connected the dots.

She had more ties to criminals than she did with us. So, where did her loyalties lie?

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_"Bring it on, Kid Idiot!" Artemis yelled. She was ticked off more that usual, and I wondered what Wally had done to her this time._

_"Okay. If you say so!" KF shouted back and he took a step closer to her. If they actually liked each other things would be a whole lot simpler, but they didn't, so it wasn't. It looked like I would have to be the voice of reason again. I hated being mature. I acted like a kid for a reason and I wasn't happy with the prospect of being the responsible one. However, the situation called for it._

_"Will you do shut up! We are on a covert mission! Covert as in quiet, or as in, if you two don't quit talking I will rip your vocal chords out." I half whispered and half yelled at the two of them. It was amazing that the criminals hadn't heard us yet with all the noise we had been making._

_The three of us were sent in to place explosive charges throughout the building, not to start a miniaturized World War III in the corner of the upstairs._

_"Fine." They mumbled at the same time, and I sent a smirk at them. It would drive them insane, but I found it funny._

_"What do we need to do?" Artemis asked, becoming serious._

_"We're placing explosives here, there, and here." I explained, gesturing to different locations of the building on my wrist computer._

_I didn't need to look back to know that my friends were nodding in understanding. Each of us had one explosive, and we were supposed to split up and put them in the building's weak spots. It wasn't hard by any standards, and voicing anything else would have been counterproductive._

_I slipped away from the crates we had been hiding behind and shot my grappling gun at the rafters. As quietly as I could, I swung from the balcony to main floor of the building. The theatrics were necessary, because I knew that the stairs wold be covered with motion sensors. After all, it was a top secret Cadmus base. Once we had destoryed the main one when we busted out Superboy, more and more seemed to start opening up._

_We had been managing them fairly well, but the one we were sent destroy slipped in from under our radar. We were looking for big things, not some high tech warehouse on the outskirts of a town in the middle of nowhere. How we missed it was a mystery in itself. It seemed that the warehouse was a bigger threat then most super villains. It had to go, pronto._

_Getting to my designated position was a cake walk. The goons that still remained were gathered in the middle of the warehouse, playing cards. Amateurs._

_With my back to the wall, I set up my explosive on one of the building main support beams. It kind of reminded me of how we took down the original Cadmus. It looked like collapsing buildings had become the team's specialty._

_Setting the charge had been harder than I thought it would be. The overall size of the explosive was whelming. It was about the size of a backpack, and that meant it was heavy. Increased strength came in handy in times like those, but did I have that? Nope. Just human arms lugging a bomb around a warehouse. I grumbled about this under my breath as I set the timer on the bomb. Five minutes would be enough time right?_

_Once the charge was set, things went downhill. I was caught. The card playing guards weren't nearly as clueless as I had thought._

_Yells sounded through the warehouse, alerting everyone to the intruder. I had only hoped that they hadn't found KF and Artemis._

_The entire security team rushed at me and I had barely enough time to doge out of the way before they opened fire. I knew before it happened that the bomb would be hit in the crossfire. It was only a matter of time._

_I tried to draw their attention to me instead of the lump next to the pillar, but I was to late. It only took one idiot to kill us all. A single gunshot rang above the rest and then there was nothing but fire._

_Fire and shrapnel exploded from the bomb at amazing speeds and I was far enough away to live, but whatever was about to hit me was going to hurt._

_The initial bang sounded painfully in my ears. Temporary deafness was inevitable, as was the force that sent me flying. I was literally lifted off my feet and sent hurtling across the warehouse. Pain irrupted in my head and leg as I smacked against the concrete. I was vaguely aware of another one the bombs going off somewhere to my left while I laid there. I couldn't seem to move. Blood starting pouring out of my cheek and spread across my face from where a piece of metal had scraped me, and my leg felt practically on fire. I didn't have the energy to see if this was because I had something embedded in it or if my leg was actually on fire._

_I was losing consciousness rapidly and it would only be a matter of time before I passed out completely. Bruce was going to be ticked that I died._

_Smoke started to fill my lugs in the replacement of oxygen and black spots danced around my vision. I was done for, or at least I thought I was._

_Everything came zooming back to focus when I felt grass rubbing against my cheek. My first thought was something along the lines of, 'Grass?'_

_I could have sworn that not moments prior, I was as good as dead on the floor of a warehouse. How I got out was a blur. I didn't remember being dragged out, but the intense pain in my leg suggested it. I must have blacked out, because I didn't remember anything past having my smoke fill with smoke._

_As if on cue, I coughed at the memory or at the remaining smoke in my lungs. I felt like I had been coughing forever when I finally stopped, and my head was pounding from the effort. I was content with just laying there for hours, but that thought was chased from my mind when a blurry figure came into view above me._

_It took longer than I wanted it to, but my eyes finally focused to reveal a worried Artemis hovering over me. Her blond hair was a mess and she had some superficial wounds on her face. She looked unhurt for the most part._

_I saw her mouth move, but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. My ears were still ringing from the explosion. I raised my hand weakly and tapped my ear, and she instantly understood. She moved back where I could see her hands and she started signing to me._

_'How bad are you hurt?' her hands asked._

_"I'll be fine. How are you and Wally?" I croaked._

_'Fine, and don't change the subject.'_

_"What subject?" I asked, making her roll her eyes. She pushed off the ground by me and I briefly wondered where she was going. I tried not to panic. I knew she wouldn't leave me there, but I was still scarred. What if she did leave me?_

_My fears were dismissed entirely when she came back moments later holding a piece of paper covered with words. It was written in what looked like charcoal, but I could still read it perfectly._

_It said, 'I would tell you to shut up and get traught, but I don't exactly know if I can sign that.'_

_I smiled at her and rested my head against the ground, already thinking of ways to translate my made up words into different languages. I felt Artemis ruffle my hair, and I finally found it a good time to pass out. I knew that if anything bad happened, Artemis would have my back._

_End Flashback_

* * *

><p>If Artemis really wanted all of us dead, she would have let me die in that explosion. It helped that I was Wally's best friend, and she had a major crush on him. It may have been to get on his good side, but that didn't change the facts. Just because her family was messed up, didn't mean she was a bad guy. She was herself, and she wasn't a bad person.<p>

Maybe I was just attached to my entire team, but I couldn't name anyone of them a traitor. They were my friends. I'd even go farther and say they were apart of my family.

One of them might have been betraying me, but that didn't matter anymore. They were family and family stuck together. I would stick by their sides no matter what. They could become the worst villain the world had ever known, and I would still meet up with them for movie night.

I smiled at my realization.

With that out of the way, I went to meet Bruce in the kitchen. He would ask me questions, but I was ready to answer them. He would be disappointed in my handling of the traitor, but his opinion didn't concern me in this instance.

All this time, someone had been telling the enemy our secrets, but at the same time a bond was being formed. A bond that couldn't be broken easily. We had gone from a covert unit to a family, and I knew that we would face this together.

* * *

><p>AN- Well... That. Is. A. Butt-Ton. Of. Words.

What did that lady put in my coffee that made me type so much?

I thought the ending was abrupt, but that's kind of how I planned it... I like it.

Read, review, dance, do whatever it is you do with your spare time. (Which better be reviewing. Hint. Hint.)


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